Google Unwraps $300 Million Growth-Stage Investment Fund

Google on Wednesday took the wraps off a new investment arm targeting companies that are hitting their growth phase.

The fund’s focus will differ from Google Ventures, a $300 million fund that targets early-stage firms and invests independently of Google’s corporate strategy.

Google is committing $300 million this year to the Capital arm, according to a person familiar with the fund. Its investments so far include the online-survey tool SurveyMonkey, the finance company Lending Club and the education firm Renaissance Learning.

“It’s still very early, and investing is a long road,” Google Capital partner David Lawee said in the blog post. Google didn’t say in its blog how much money is committed to the fund.

The new fund plans to seek out companies across a range of industries with new technologies and proven track records. Google said the investments will have access to the company’s workers.

Last month the search giant posted a 17% increase in both revenue and profit for the fourth quarter, a day after it announced plans to sell its unprofitable Motorola smartphone unit to Lenovo for $2.9 billion.

With strong revenue growth, Google continued to beat back concerns that the shift in Internet usage to mobile devices from desktop computers would harm its lucrative search business.